Doc
Savage was an incredible influence on my early life. I discovered Doc
as a 5th Grade navy brat when I was living overseas in Gaeta, Italy.
I come from a family of readers, and living in a foreign country only
increases the habit. The craving for something familiar and in my first
language was overwhelming at times.

In this particular period, my
older brother had just introduced me to the incredibly violent "Mack Bolan" series
of paperbacks, which I loved for their strangely graphic mix of sex and violence. They were a
intoxicating, dangerous literary treat -- our parents would have gone ballistic had
they ever seen them. We hid them constantly and read them on the sly,
trading old ones for new ones at the local American book exchange.

One day I walked
into the American Library in the Gaeta, Italy Naval Detachment looking
for more adventures of The Exterminator, The Executioner, The Destroyer,
The Butcher, The Baker, or The Candlestickmaker (I was consuming any
and all of these silly things that I could lay my 11 year old hands
on) and noticed a new series amongst the "Men's Fiction" (as
the section was called, although I'll never know why, for no man I know
will ever admit to reading those books).

This new book was about some
guy named "Doc Savage." It had the prerequisite number on the
cover so I knew I had discovered some new series. From the word
"Doc" in the title, I was expecting to read all about this
savagely angry guy who would pull people's arms off and beat them about
the shoulders with them while saying clever medical puns.

I
had picked out one of the Bantam doubles (#99/100
Hell Below/The Lost Giant) quite by random. I hesitated,
hemmed, and hawed, but decided on the Doc book for one reason... it
had two stories in it and my other choice only had one. I took that
book back to my spartan bunkbed and lay down to peruse it, expecting
buckets of blood and ungentlemanly behavior. Imagine my surprise.

I finished the first book by
dinner, and consumed the second half that night under my sheets with a
flashlight. I was immediately and permanently captivated by the Man of
Bronze. I swore that I would grow up and be brave and good like Doc
Savage.

Okay, so I turned out more like
John Sunlight, Doc's brilliantly evil nemesis, but hey, that can't be
blamed on Doc. I'm just a bad seed -- yet another candidate for Doc's
Crime College!

So hey, there's
a new Doc Savage movie being made, right? Naaah. I talk about that here.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures you
see on the pages of this site. Most of them are from the great pulp
covers by Walter M. Baumhofer. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the James
Bama covers as well, but I think Doc's hair looks hipper (and more '90s)
in the older renditions.

If you are at
all interested in Pulp magazine cover art, then I heartily recommend
a vibrantly illustrated reference book which has just been published.
"Pulp
Art" was written by Robert Lesser, a book and pulp magazine
dealer. Mr. Lesser's Coffee-table book sized, it's 192 pages long, with
excellent full size pulp cover art and detailed biographies of the great
pulp illustrators.

Order it now
from Amazon
Books! There are few pulp art books I could more highly recommend.
At $19.99 (Amazon's Price: $13.99!), it would be cheap at thrice the
price.

Doc Savage's Oath

This
is Doc's Oath, which as a child I used to swear aloud before falling
asleep (to the eternal regret of my brother who had to share my room).
I submit that its messages should be recited aloud in schools across
America rather than the current McCarthy-era Pledge of Allegiance. Perhaps
we would have a better generation of kids if they followed Doc's path
of questioning the authority of those who govern -for- us instead of
blindly swearing allegiance to their actions.

Let me strive
every moment of my life to make myself better and better, to the best
of my ability, that all may profit by it.

Let me think
of the right and lend all my assistance to those who need it, with
no regard for anything but justice.

Let me take
what comes with a smile, without loss of courage. Let me be considerate
of my country, of my fellow citizens and my associates in everything
I say and do.

Let me do
right to all, and wrong no man.

Finally, this is Steven Holland, the model who posed for almost
all of Bantam's Doc Savage paperback covers! He posed for cover artists
James Bama and Bob Larkin. Steven Holland was also the cover model for
the 1970's reprints of The Avenger pulp series (his facial features
were for the covers of The Avenger books).

Steve Holland can be briefly
seen in the 1955 Otto Preminger film "The Court Martial of Billy
Mitchell." He is most widely remembered for starring as Flash
Gordon on television during the 1950s.

Mr. Holland died on May 11th,
1997 at the age of 72.

Now look again at this photo
and imagine him kicking your ass, even though he was 53 at the time it
was taken. Rest in peace Mr. Holland.